Russia's minister of culture has claimed that one of his country's most famous poets invented rap music and that the genre may become a Russian form of art in the future.

Vladimir Mayakovsky was an early 20th-century artist who became famous for his futurist style, satirical attacks on the bourgeoisie and eager support for the Bolshevik Revolution that swept his country in 1917. He grew critical of communist rule under Joseph Stalin and later took his own life in 1930 at the young age of 36, but his deeply influential works have lived on in Russian society.

Addressing the Valdai Discussion Club on Tuesday, Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said that he grew frustrated with his son's fascination with rap and, after studying it himself, proclaimed that "Mayakovsky was the first rapper," according to the Interfax news agency.

Articles published on Thursday claimed that Sony Music had “admitted” in a court hearing earlier this week that three tracks on “Michael,” the 2010 Michael Jackson album released posthumously by Sony’s Epic Records, contained lead vocals that were not actually by Michael Jackson — an assertion that the company denied in a statement released late Friday morning.

In the world of opera, the term “diva” is reserved for a select few. It has nothing to do with outlandish offstage behavior and everything to do with a true gift for communicating in song. It’s the Italian word for “goddess,” but when used for a performer, it’s more like someone touched by the divine for the general betterment of the rest of us.

At first, Aretha Franklin embodied that description literally, as the gospel-singing daughter of the most famous preacher of the day. But then she took it further -- to the blues, R&B, pop and even opera itself.

The Eagles’ greatest hits album has moonwalked past Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to become history’s best-selling album of all-time in the U.S.

The Recording Industry Association of America told The Associated Press on Monday that the Eagles’ album — “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975” — is now certified 38x platinum, which means sales and streams of the album have reached 38 million copies.

Take a moment, dig deep inside and ask yourself: who are your favourite musical artists? Not that buzzy hot new release, or the names you like to drop socially, but your true musical soulmates and desert island discs? The audio comfort blanket you turn to in your darkest days, or the act you’d fly halfway across the world to hear?

I’d happily wager you first encountered this music in your teens, or your early 20s, at a push. The chances you discovered your most treasured tunes after the age of 30 are precisely zilch. Or so says a new study, anyhow, which claims to have identified the exact moment listeners stop embracing new music: 27 years and 11 months. After that, our ears apparently shrivel up and we turn inwards, condemned to an endless repetitive homage to our younger selves. The so-called onset of “musical paralysis” certainly goes a long way to explaining today’s lucrative gold rush of reformed nostalgia tours, anniversary reissues and tribute acts.

“The sonic equivalent of how 'Blade Runner' looks is what we were chasing.”

This week, Billboard is celebrating the music of 20 years ago with a week of content about the most interesting artists, albums, songs and stories from 1998. Here, we talk to Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson about Version 2.0, the band's Grammy-nominated '98 sophomore LP, and how the set proved how ahead of their time Garbage was.

Shirley Manson is feeling reflective these days about Garbage’s 1998 sophomore LP, Version 2.0. Packed with disruptive radio hits like “Push It” and “I Think I’m Paranoid,” the groundbreaking album’s importance in securing Garbage’s status as fierce contenders in the late-1990s alt rock arena is not lost on the band’s front woman.

In an interview with The Washington Post podcast Cape Up, distinguished jazz musician and famed trumpeter Wynton Marsalis discussed his deep aversion to hip-hop and rap music, claiming the genres are more harmful to society than some confederate statues. “I don’t think we should have a music talking about n***ers and bitches and hoes. It had no impact. I’ve said it. I’ve repeated it. I still repeat it. To me that’s more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee," Marsalis said.